Mesoscale dimensional metrology, where mesoscale is defined as submicrometer to several millimeter range, is a challenging field. Typical commercial equipment used in mesoscale dimensional metrology is vision-based probing, also called video inspection or vision inspection. While this equipment is capable of submicron resolution, the traceable accuracy is generally at the micron-level due to the limited certifiable accuracy of calibration artifacts. Typical calibration artifacts used to calibrate vision inspection equipment are two-dimensional in nature and are designed to provide a set of optically sharp lines. One example is a set of crosshairs arranged in a grid pattern (a vision calibration grid). However, there is a need for three-dimensional calibration artifacts that can be measured with a high-accuracy measurement tool, such as a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), with a very accurate touch probe to provide traceable accuracy to the submicron level while providing the sharp edges needed in vision-based probing. Artifacts are needed with dimensional features of appreciable size (>1 mm) to facilitate length calibrations; measurement areas on the order of 100 mm×100 mm are desirable. At the same time, it would be desirable to know the location of the features to sub-micrometer accuracy using intrinsic characteristics of the artifacts and by measurement with a high-accuracy system. Such three-dimensional artifacts could be used to provide high-accuracy calibration of vision inspection machines. This invention comprises such mesoscale calibration artifacts which can be certified to better than 0.1 micrometer accuracy and the method for making them.